


The Heart of the Alien

by dreamcatcherinwonderland



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 16:56:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13194504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamcatcherinwonderland/pseuds/dreamcatcherinwonderland
Summary: Some tooth rotting fluff, set some time in season 2. Rose is missing her mother, the Doctor somehow senses he can help. One-shot





	The Heart of the Alien

“You smell really nice,” the Doctor said one night as Rose was painting her toenails. It caught her off-guard because the Time Lord hardly gave her compliments, and in fact, was more prone to insulting her species as apes. 

“Thank you,” she said, still slightly reeling at what he might mean. If the Doctor were a normal bloke, it might have been a comment to make her more affectionate towards him, but as this was a nine hundred plus alien who was most likely at this point asexual, Rose wasn’t sure if the sentiment was quite the same. 

To him, saying she smelled nice was just an off hand way of getting her to shower more often or something...probably. Still, she looked up from her nail polish, screwing the top on and setting it on the table to study the Doctor. 

He had his sexy specs perched on the edge of his nose as he read an Agatha Christie novel, that Rose assumed was one of his favorites as he had read the same one multiple times. He absentmindedly scratched his chin and took a sip of the tea he had made them earlier before they had come to sit in one of the TARDIS’ many dens. 

Shrugging, and deciding the Doctor had probably carried no weight with his compliment, Rose picked up the comb she had brought out to brush through her tangles post-shower. She turned her back towards him and started to comb through the ends, carefully separating the strands and smiling to herself as she remembered her mother doing this for her when she was at home. 

Rose stopped. She felt like someone was staring at her. She quietly turned back towards the Doctor, but he was still in the same exact position she had left him in, engrossed in his novel. She shook her head, chastising herself for trying to make the Doctor more into her than he was. She had to accept that this gorgeous, intelligent, amazing alien with great hair was just her best mate. 

She resumed her work on her wet strands, already thinking that she should do her hair in two neat braids so she could have waves for their next day of adventuring.

The Doctor cleared his throat behind her, making her drop her comb in fright. “Your hair is always really soft after you wash it,” he said and she turned to study him this time. 

She cocked her head in concentration, and she noticed a slight pink tinge to the Doctor’s cheeks as she looked at him. It was these small moments, that gave her hope that maybe…

“Were you goin’ somewhere with that?” she asked teasingly, poking her tongue between her teeth in the grin she knew he loved. 

The Doctor paused, his brown eyes growing wide. It reminded Rose of a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Not sure what it’s next move should be, but knowing one of them leads to danger. He shook his head decisively, and trained his eyes on his book once more, determinedly not looking up. 

Rose sighed, turning again away from the Doctor and picking up the brush. She returned to her happy memories of Jackie Tyler brushing her hair after the bath or shower and doing her hair into braids before bedtime. The feeling of her nimble and experienced fingers through her hair was calming, and her heart started to ache for her mother. She stopped combing for a moment, looked down sadly at the ground, and feeling cross with herself for getting upset over a silly thing. 

It was then that she felt a familiar hand covering hers gently and wrestling the comb from her fingers. 

“What-” she began.

“Shhh,” the Doctor interrupted her, slowly combing through the rest of her hair. “Stop fussing. I’m just going to braid your hair.” 

Rose was bewildered. How had he known she was thinking about that? She looked up at the TARDIS ceiling wondering if the time ship had said something to the Doctor, remembering he said she was telepathic. A soft, low chuckle resounded from behind her.

She leaned into his touch, just reveling in his fingers running trails through her scalp. A sudden thought donned on her. _The Doctor was telepathic._ Did that mean he’d been reading her thoughts? She sat up quickly. Rose’s cheeks burned with embarrassment at the other things she had been thinking earlier that night, and that he might have heard them. 

The Doctor pulled her back gently, resting her against his stomach as he started to braid her first section of hair. He was slower, clumsier, than her mother, but it made Rose smile that he was trying. He started humming behind her, the vibrations traveling down his fingertips and hitting her scalp. He reached out to her for a tie and she complied with his demand. He neatly tied off his work and got to work on the other side of her hair. 

Again, he worked slower and clumsier than her mother, but the Doctor seemed to be hitting his stride and enjoying himself as he worked. Another thought hit Rose as he worked. She remembered all the times he had mentioned that he had been a father, grandfather, he was nine hundred years old after all and she wondered if this was something he did with them.

The Doctor stopped humming at this and thrust out a hand for another tie. _Sorry_ , she thought as hard as she could. Rose hoped if he was reading her thoughts, that he would understand she didn’t mean to hurt him. She knew thinking about his past made him grumpy and irritable and undeniably sad. Although she didn’t know everything about him, she knew enough to know he had valid reasons for not wanting to deal with whatever had happened.   
The Doctor stroked her cheek for a moment and it was like Rose knew she was forgiven. She smiled. He tapped her on the shoulder, which she supposed was his motion for he was done. 

Rose turned towards him and he was studying her. “How did you do, then?” she asked. 

The Doctor shrugged. “Alright.” 

She leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek before leaving to go to bed. She saw him touch his cheek when he thought she wasn’t looking.  
….  
The next day they went to her mother’s house.


End file.
